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Besieged Jerusalem
The only road winding its way up the mountains to Jerusalem was under Arab control and the siege of the Old City lasted the longest of the besieged towns. It was only on June 18, well after the armistice had been signed that the siege was lifted and then only when a new road was completed under the Arab guns. Initially, the British had planned to discontinue postal services on May 5. On April 20, a 350-vehicle convoy travelling along the Jerusalem Post Road was ambushed by Arabs resulting in British deaths. Five days later as a result of the mounting hostilities the Post Office was closed, leaving Jerusalem without postal services until a precarious truce was established on May 8, and Dov Joseph, the Jewish Military Governor of the city elected to reactivate postal services. Unfortunately, none of the official Minhelet stamps were available. On the other hand, Haoman Press, which had printed the original Partition Map series, was still in possession of the original plates. Hurriedly printed they were delivered to the Lipshitz Press for overprinting with DOAR (Postage) and a numeric value with MA”Y (mils Eretz Yisrael) which were placed at opposite ends of the stamps. The second printing was done completely by the Haoman Press, and differed from the first release in that the overprinted lines were juxtaposed together at the bottom of the stamps. Additionally, the blue paper used for the first release was no longer available, and so Haoman instead printed blue on a blue background onto a plain paper stamp. A demand for additional lower denomination 5m stamps led to the third release, overprinted by Goldberg Printing Press. Their numeric type face differed, however, and was slightly italicised giving rise to the “slant 5” apellation for this release. Postage fees at the Jerusalem office for registered mail was set at 25m with 5m used within Jerusalem and the fee set at 10m to reach the rest of the Yishuv. A constant variant is found due to a flaw in the plates termed the “lake variety.” This occured in the lower right of the stamp where a break in the horizontal lines that made up the background appeared to result in a lake in the Jordan desert. This constant flaw is found in position 10 of the first release and in position 20 of the second release. A control number is not found in the 10 stamp sheets of the first release but was added to the 20 stamp sheets of the second and third releases. In the upper left corner in both releases a 4 digit number is accompanied by the Hebrew letter Bet in the second release, and by a Gimmel in the third release. Screen shot 2010-05-22 at 12.20.03 PM.jpg|The first Jerusalem printing Screen shot 2010-05-22 at 12.21.18 PM.jpg|Philatelic cover from the first setting Screen shot 2010-05-22 at 12.20.40 PM.jpg|Control blocks from the second Jerusalem setting Screen shot 2010-05-22 at 12.20.56 PM.jpg|Control block from the third release ("slant 5") The first sheets in blocks of 10 were released on May 9, overprinted with the Doar and value at opposing ends of the stamp. The release consisted of 33,000 - 5 mils, 37,000 - 10 mils and 20,000 - 25 mils. The second issue of May 11 was from sheets of 20 and the Doar and value were in proximity. There were 35,000 - 5 mils, 55,000 - 10 mils and 20,000 - 25 mils. The third and last release (“slant 5”) included only a 5 mils value in 20 stamp sheets (8,000 stamps) and was released on the 24th. These stamps were in use until June 20 when the siege was lifted. The French Consulate in Jerusalem fr 1.jpg|Joined se-tenant pair from the first issue of the French Consular Post fr2.jpg|Second issue of the French Consular Post fr3.jpg|The Marianne or third French Consular issue The French Consul-General M. Rene Neuville took advantage of article 12 of the 1781 Edict in which the Ottoman Sultanate granted special powers in times of crisis to the Consuls of France. Among these powers, the consulate could issue postage for French Nationals in times of emergency. Because of the coming siege of Jerusalem, the Mandate Postal services within the city were effectively discontinued prematurely on April 25. Using the Lipshitz Press, French stamps were overprinted and released for postal use on three occasions. The first release of May 5th were overprinted on labels of the Consulate General which were inscribed ‘Affairs Etrangéres / Gratis’ in sheets of 50 (10 rows of 5). Six such sheets were then overprinted (300 stamps). The upper 5 rows were overprinted with ‘Jerusalem / Poste aérienne / 10 Frs’ for use as airmail postage. The bottom rows bore the overprint ‘Jerusalem / Postes Françaices / 6 Frs.’ And were intended for letters by sea. The arrangement resulted in the collectable se-tenant pairs of the middle two rows. The second release of May 15th involved the overprinting of an additional 2,000 labels with ‘Jerusalem / Postes Françaices /20 millièmes.’ These labels varied from the first in that in place of the ‘Gratis’ and bar, there was instead ‘Agence Consulaire.’ Finally on May 26, 5000 of the 6 franc Marianne stamp with an overprint of ‘Jerusalem / 20 millièmes’ was released. Strangely, these stamps printed in France were arranged as 2 panes of 10 rows of 5 with an interveening vertical blank gutter. The overprint was then done a half sheet at a time leading to an unusual collectable. In the first column of stamps there are 2 defects and they are found on both of the panes. In column 1, row 5, the 20 millièmes is indented such that it lies under the right edge of the E of Jerusalem, as opposed to the J. In the stamp immediately below in column one, row 6, the S of Jerusalem is ‘broken.’ These stamps were sold at the consulate only upon presentation of mail for posting which then was shipped by diplomatic pouch to Paris. This service ended in January 31, 1949. There remains some controversy to these stamps for a variety of reasons and among those who question their authenticity, they point to the Consul’s son Ives Neuville, who may have released these issues privately for profit. Otzar Ha'Am Revenue Stamp Within Jerusalem the Otzar Ha’am revenue stamps were briefly used. The series was intended to be used for fiscal purposes on documents and was available in that role in 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 mils denominations. Released on May 6, 1948, the green 10 mils stamp was very briefly used as interim postage, but quickly withdrawn because the configuration of the map was in conflict with the official UN partition plan of November 1947.